UK is a nation of serial time-wasters

The UK is becoming a nation of serial time-wasters, with workers happily
smoking, chatting and e-mailing their way through the working day.

A third of all working days have been found to be completely unproductive
because so much time is wasted by staff, according to a new survey.

The survey by the Human Resources Group found staff waste time through
extended lunches, surfing the web, gossiping with colleagues, sick leave, and
time off to let the gasman in.

The findings show that three 10-minute cigarette breaks a day alone add up
to 16 lost working days a year.

Meanwhile, web-enabled employees are using their skills to fritter away the
working day, with recruitment consultants among the worst offenders.

A separate poll of 1,000 workers found more than 62 per cent admitted using
the internet for personal reasons, with almost a third browsing for no specific
reason. The problem has become so serious that it now accounts for almost 35
per cent of lost productivity in the office.